Thursday, September 19, 2002

Again, not much news (are you seeing a pattern here?) I have an orientation meeting, but it's not until November. Hello??? Don't understand the logic here, I really don't. I'm going to just email the director and ask her about registering for classes, because I want to get it ironed out before I get on the plane.

Also, at Meijer tonight, I found this incredibly cool pair of pajamas. The top is a tank top with the Union Jack on it, and the bottoms have little stars, little Union Jacks, and the Queen's head on them. And--how neat is this? They were on clearance for 75% off! I was with my friend Beth, who interned in London over the summer, and I screamed, "MINE!" the minute I saw 'em. Muahahahhaha. She looked all over for another pair, but mine was the only one. Double muahahahhahaha.

Book for today: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Not reading this right at the moment, but I got to talking about it with my roommate, and remembered how wonderful it was. Go read it.

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

No new news re: England for today, chicos and chicas. I was just feeling rather pensive, for obvious reasons, and decided to put this together.

After the attack, there were innumerable artistic tributes. Things like “Empty Sky” and the Ground Zero project have already been documented, but what about the more easily overlooked elements of pop culture? One of them is comic strips.

I’m no artist and have never pretended to be, but comic strips are one of my great pleasures. Their reactions and tributes didn’t make it to us until around the 24th of September, and probably seemed like too little, too late. However, comic strip artists work on a lag time of about two weeks from their drawing board to your eyes. So the strips that we read and put into the recycling bin were the gut reactions of these often disregarded artists. I’ve managed to ressurrect a few of these from the archives, but most of the ones I’ve linked to here are the one-year memoriam tributes.

My tastes are wide-ranging, and so is the spread you see here. Some are satirical, some are patriotic, and some just express the grief and shock that we still feel, over a year later.

Tuesday, September 03, 2002

Well, after my big "Nothing yet, folks, and probably not for two weeks", I got a thick packet from the International Center here on campus. Actually, they sent it across the state to my parents' house first, then my dad had to send it back to me. Efficient, huh?? Sheesh. Anyway, they said they'd gotten my application (wow, and it only took them five months to figure it out! A round of applause for the highly efficient International Office, if you please) and I was APPROVED FOR THE PROGRAM!!!! WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Having now used up my entire supply of exclamation points for the next month, I'll tell you about the caveat--apparently, they're sending my application on to the London university for them to review it. What does this mean? As far as I know, jack, because they sent me all sorts of class lists and registration forms and withdrawal slips (puh--like that's going to happen) and it sure looks like I'm going.

Now for the real headaches to start. First off, I only have one semester left if I take all the right classes. This means making sure I take the right classes to transfer from London to my university in the States. Still with me? It gets better. Most things look okay, but the Shakespeare class, which is Required with a capital R underscore exclamation point for English majors, is apparently only offered in the fall semester. I didn't take it here this semester because I had hoped to take that in the spring. I mean, seriously! Shakespeare in Britain! But apparently not . . . I'm going to check with the International Center to see if I'm reading it correctly. And what'll I do if I can't take it? Wait around for another semester and take it NEXT fall here, putting my graduation off by several months?? Nuh-uh. I have plans. There are some possibilities for substitution, but . . . but . . . I wanna take a Shakespeare class! *snif*

Luckily, the classes that I can take in the spring look reaaaaaaaaaaaally reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally cool. 18th and 19th century novels? Sign me UP, baby! (Okay, yes, I'm a little odd. But that's why I'm an English major.)

Until further notice, boys and girls, I'm going to LONDON!!

Books for today: Troubling a Star by Madeleine L'Engle. Sequel to A Ring of Endless Light, not as good, but hey, it's still Madeleine L'Engle.